A well-thumbed book sits on the coffee table in the Northern Ireland secretary’s private office – it’s called ‘Northern Ireland: A Triumph of Politics’. The cover features previously sworn enemies Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness grinning together in March 2007, on the day they entered power-sharing government as first and deputy first minister respectively. It’s a dramatic illustration of how much devolution has already delivered – but the process of moving power from Westminster to the Stormont assembly won’t be complete until the vast majority of Nick Perry’s responsibilities have been devolved.

Perry is the director general for criminal justice and policing at the Northern Ireland Office (NIO); we meet at the NIO’s Millbank offices, located in the same imposing block as MI5. Perry currently manages Northern Irish policing and criminal justice in the same way that the Home Office and Ministry of Justice do in England – but ultimately, he says, only a “couple” of powers should remain in the building. So what will the NIO be left with? “Whitehall will look after some national security issues, but all the rest will go [to Stormont]. That is our objective,” Perry replies.

The Northern Irish executive failed to meet for much of 2008 because parties were unable to agree on the mechanics of completing devolution, and although last November saw agreement in principle to create a devolved Department of Justice, no solid timetable has yet emerged. In the meantime, events have taken a gruesome, if tragically familiar, turn with the murders of two off-duty soldiers at an army barracks in Antrim and a police officer in Lurgan. Perry says that officials were “shocked by the savagery, but not surprised” by the killings, both of which were carried out by republican splinter groups. “We’ve been facing this dissident threat for 18 months; they’ve been making strenuous efforts to kill officers,” Perry explains. “The week before the attacks, the threat level had been raised.”

The threat remains serious, Perry says, but his department is determined that the reaction to it doesn’t undermine the process of demilitarisation and normalisation of policing. The Treasury has provided extra funding for counter-terror activities in specific areas, he explains, but the dissidents haven’t forced an intense escalation of security – the reaction they were looking for. “The main aim of the police service is still to deliver an ordinary, effective, community-based police service in Northern Ireland,” he says. “The dissidents aren’t going to wreck that.” The threat level remains “severe”, as it was in March, but Perry is encouraged by the fact that three arrests have already been made, and hopeful that more will follow.
Having served in the NIO before the peace process, Perry knows that Sinn Fein’s condemnation of the murders marks a “complete transformation” from the dark days of decades past. Most notable was the intervention of McGuinness, a man widely thought to have been a long time IRA commander, who branded the killers “traitors to Ireland”. “That had particular impact,” Perry says. “It was one encouraging thing to come out of what was a very difficult few days.” 

McGuinness’s strong words marked a new step in the acceptance of policing structures among mainstream republicans. The process began in the wake of the Good Friday Agreement, with a report by former Conservative minister Lord Patten calling for the disbanding of the largely Protestant Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). Where once republicans planted bombs under the cars of policemen, now they sit on the boards that oversee officers in the renamed Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). And the policy of positive discrimination in favour of recruiting Catholics means the force is now 27 per cent Catholic – well on track to hit its target of having 30 per cent of its officers from that community by 2011. Does Perry have any regrets over what some unionists see as the rather brutal dismemberment of a proud service? “If you look at opinion polls, the response to police on the ground and the number of applications, I think most people have accepted the need for it,” Perry says. “I completely accept, having had relatives and friends who were in the RUC, the hurt that went with the name change, but it was one of those things that had to happen.”
 
The police will have a new leader in the near future, with the appointment of a successor to the well-regarded Sir Hugh Orde – who leaves in October to become president of the Association of Chief Police Officers. Perry graciously declines my offer to identify strong candidates, but he does reject concerns over the size of the pool of strong internal candidates – something attributed to the large number handsomely pensioned off when the force was renamed. “The calibre of the new police service is extremely high, and I think Hugh would say that more than compensates for the loss of experience,” he says, pointing out that in the reformed system – unlike in the days when the Northern Ireland secretary chose the region’s police chief – the independent policing board makes the appointment.

Another controversial issue for the police on both sides of the Irish border is the handling of the investigation into the Omagh bombing. In the week of our interview, the families of the Omagh victims won a landmark civil case at Belfast High Court, when the four men widely reported to have been behind the attack – which claimed 29 lives – were found liable for the deaths and ordered to pay the families £1.6m. Perry describes it as a “very important” decision, with implications going far beyond Northern Ireland. Indeed, it was partially aided by the government, which – unusually – provided funding for the action via the Lord Chancellor’s office. “It was a recognition of the enormous injustice that had been done to them, and a way of trying to provide them with some way of getting a resolution,” says Perry.

Completing the process of devolution, Perry says, will bring “local ownership and local accountability” over policing – and, with it, more work for civil servants in Northern Ireland. The Stormont assembly (including a dedicated justice select committee) is sure to provide much more scrutiny of policy than is possible at Westminster. However, continued progress will also mean the effective end of the NIO as a major government presence in Northern Ireland – as long as the devolution settlement sticks. As for when completion will actually happen, Perry dutifully insists it is a matter for the Northern Ireland parties; the Democratic Unionists and Sinn Fein have still to agree on a date. “The NIO stands ready to transfer these powers when the request is made, and the practical arrangements will be in place,” he says.

Perry is proud of the department’s work – in conjunction with colleagues in the Irish government – in delivering a settlement following the frequently “adrenaline-driven” years of high-wire diplomacy. His job now is to help ensure that dissidents do not destabilise that fragile peace, and he’s determined to do that without losing the hard-won goodwill of any section of a still-divided society.

Nick Perry: CV highlights

1980
Graduates from Trinity College, Dublin, with BA in history

1981
Joins HM Customs & Excise

1984
Moves to Ministry of Defence

1991
Enters Northern Ireland Office

1998
Becomes principal private secretary to Mo Mowlam then Peter Mandelson as secretaries of state

2000  
Appointed head of financial services division, Northern Ireland Office

2003
Made associate director of policing and security directorate, NIO

2004
Named director, policing and security, NIO

2008
Becomes director of criminal justice and policing